[tabi] Re: attitudes toward the unemployed
- From: "Barbara Lineberry" <bkblpp@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:28:04 -0400
I remember many years ago in my early years of work when my mother would
encourage me to make sure my disability was brought up during an interview or
even in applications for jobs. She said I would have a better chance. I never
saw it happen. I never had a job where I made more than $19,500 a year.
I've had orthopedic problems since birth and my mother often told me all the
things I could not do, not even try. I've been able to do more than was
thought possible, but it hasn't been easy. I've been determined to be as
independent as possible but things are getting much harder.
I volunteered many years at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. and down here
at the Junior Museum, the library, and the Radio Reading Service at WFSU. I've
stopped volunteering now because some days it is all I can do to do what I have
to do.
My last regular paying job was at what was then known as Independance for the
Blind but has changed it's name first to FIRE and now to The Lighthouse. I
retired on disability but since then have been able to work as needed with
those who've known me for a long time and know what I can do well. I don't
make much but enjoy the occasional work which is usually reading and/or
recording.
There are "bad apples" who have taken advantage of unemployment and
unfortunately those are the ones that people remember and judge others on.
Many, many hard working, honest people are suffering during these times.
Politicians get elected and immediately start their next campaign and don't see
what is really going on. Campaign promises are completely forgotten. Jobs are
made available for the cheapest going rate, usually overseas, and not for folks
who can do with the proper training a much better job. Good customer service
is so rare that I make a point of complimenting a person who has given me some.
People are getting discouraged and depressed and that makes looking for a job
even harder. I know, I've been there.
Barbara
----- Original Message -----
From: Chip Orange
To: tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 2:33 PM
Subject: [tabi] attitudes toward the unemployed
some of the article below is just unbelievable, and not at all good news for
those seeking jobs:
Back to web version
Wednesday, Jul 14, 2010
Posted on Thu, Jul. 08, 2010
Unemployed need support from Congress
By BARB SHELLY
The Kansas City Star
They are our neighbors and our kids' schoolteachers. They are the people who
in better
times built our houses and highways, manufactured the goods we use and
stocked the
shelves in our stores.
Meet the long-term unemployed. There but for some fortunate breaks go many of
us.
So why are they being vilified?
Congress is dithering on extending unemployment insurance benefits. The
longer the
debate goes on, the more it encourages the false but deep-rooted American
notion
that if a person is in need, it's got to be his or her fault.
And so we have senators and think-tank types opining that extended
unemployment insurance
presents a "disincentive" for people to look for work. As if living on
uncertainty
and an average of $310 a week is now the great American dream.
We have Rand Paul, the GOP senatorial candidate from Kentucky, lecturing on a
radio
show that ". ultimately we do have to sometimes accept a wage that's less
than we
had at our previous job in order to get back to work and allow the economy to
get
started again." Like people desperate for jobs haven't thought of that.
We have people using the Internet's cloak of anonymity to express insulting
opinions.
"The great unasked question in the face of bad unemployment numbers is, how
many
of these people weren't performing well even in the 'good' times?" a reader
asked
in response to a piece by journalist Rod Dreher on beliefnet.com.
And we have some employers specifying in their job listings that "unemployed
candidates
will not be considered" or applicants "must be currently employed." And no,
discrimination
against the unemployed is not prohibited by law.
We have in our nation a tendency to want to blame people for their own bad
circumstances.
It reared up in the health care debate, when uninsured people were maligned
as handout
seekers.
It's social Darwinism in action even if some who exhibit it don't subscribe
to the
theory of evolution. And I will agree that actions and behaviors can and
often do
play a role in one's circumstances.
But right now we have five job seekers applying for every opening. Those are
lousy
odds, even if employers aren't stigmatizing the unemployed.
Who are the long-term unemployed? I asked Christine Owens, executive director
of
the National Employment Law Project, a research and advocacy group.
They tend to be older, she said, usually 45 years and up. A majority are men.
Many,
but by no means all, have less than a college education. Many worked in
construction,
manufacturing, banking, and retail. They have been out of work at least 26
weeks,
often much longer.
I know some of these people. Many of them have worked for decades and took
great
pride in doing so. They are people who volunteer in their communities, send
their
kids to college and care for elderly parents.
The notion that they're using their unemployment checks to finance an
extended vacation
would be comical except that some people actually believe it.
Conservatives tell us that "the overwhelming majority" of studies show that
people
postpone looking for work if they're receiving unemployment pay.
Don't buy it. Newer research is finding that it's not the lack of trying
that's keeping
people out of work. It's the lack of jobs.
One example: Economists Rob Valetta and Katherine Kuang at the Federal
Reserve Bank
of San Francisco analyzed the experiences of workers who left their jobs
voluntarily
and received no unemployment benefits, and workers who were laid off and
receive
unemployment insurance.
They found little difference in the length of time it took the two categories
of
workers to find new jobs. For both groups, the search took too long.
Of course Congress should extend unemployment benefits. The money will act as
a stimulus,
stave off foreclosures and keep people from needing other forms of aid.
Agree or disagree, but can we at least not make unemployed people the
villains of
this debate? They don't need the hassle.
They need jobs.
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